Page 56 of Our Secret Summer

“There you go, Mrs. French,” she said. “Min-ji will take care of you personally, but we’ve been asked to give you ten minutes alone first.”

“Wait a second.” Dylan held up her hand. “I think there’s been a mix-up. I’m meeting my son. The reservation is for Connor Hart.”

“Connor made the reservation,” the maître d’ said. “But you’re having dinner with Raffo, not Connor.” She waggled her eyebrows and walked away.

Dylan stared at Raffo. “What’s going on? Am I, or am I not, in an alternate universe? Do the doors to Min-ji’s lead to a different dimension?”

Raffo rose from her chair. “I don’t know. I was supposed to have dinner here with Connor tonight too.” She scratched her cheek. Then a grin appeared on her lips. “When was the last time you spoke to Con?”

“He called me this morning to set up this dinner,” Dylan said. They stood around awkwardly, towering over the tables around them. Dylan wanted to kiss Raffo—at least on the cheek—more than anything, but she had to figure out what was going on first.

Raffo chuckled. “I think this might be Connor’s way of… saying we should date.” Her face all lit up, she grinned at Dylan. “He set up this dinner—this date. For us.”

“Are you sure?” Dylan found it hard to believe.

“Ninety-nine percent.” Raffo did what Dylan didn’t dare. She took a step closer. “Hi,” she said, once she was firmly in Dylan’s personal space. “It’s fantastic to see you.” She pressed her lips to Dylan’s cheek.

Dylan pushed her cheek against Raffo’s lips. Instantly, heat rushed from her neck to her face. It wasn’t a hot flash—those were well and truly behind her. Dylan knew damn well what it was.

“Shall we sit?” Raffo gestured at the table.

Dylan was already feeling a bit wobbly in the knees and was glad for the support of a chair.

“What the actual fuck?” she said. “What happened?”

Min-ji approached their table. She and Raffo exchanged a long, close hug.

“Connor asked me to give you this. It will explain everything,” Min-ji said. “I’ll be right back with some drinks.” She handed Raffo a white envelope.

Raffo tore the envelope open and pulled a card from it. On the back, there was a picture of Raffo’s famous painted rainbow heart—Dylan would recognize it anywhere now.

“Dear Mom, Dear Raff,” Raffo read out loud. “Dinner’s on me. Have fun. Love you both, Con.”

“Oh my god.” Dylan didn’t know what was going on, but tears pricked behind her eyes.

Raffo turned the card around in her hand and spotted her painting. “Fuck me.”

“You didn’t know about this?” Dylan dabbed at her eyes.

Raffo shook her head. “I talked to him a few days ago. I told him how I really felt about you.”

“You did?” Butterflies danced in Dylan’s belly. She extended a hand to Raffo.

Raffo nodded, then wrapped her hands around Dylan’s. They felt warm and comforting, like the first sunlight after weeks of winter.

“There was this bullshit with Mia again and I so clearly realized that I wanted to be with you—well, that I wanted to try,” Raffo said. “If you want to.” Raffo fixed her dark gaze on Dylan.

“There’s nothing I want more.” They would need to get the food to go. Dylan was only hungry for one thing.

“It’s still complicated but… Connor set this up so he must have found a way to be okay with it.”

“I suspect that way goes by the name of Murray.” Dylan picked up the card. “He referenced this painting while trying to get through to Connor about… us.”

Min-ji arrived with two beers and a plate of food.

After she left, Dylan huddled over the table and whispered, “I so want to take you home.”

“I get it, but we have to stay a while. For Min-ji.” Raffo grinned as though this delighted her greatly.

---